Lake District in bouyant mood as tourism recovers after devastating floods

Next week the A591, an arterial road that bisects the Lake District, will reopen after being shut for the best part of five months.

The link between Kendal and Keswick, via Windermere, was closed after Storm Desmond hit the region in December last year, when a section of the road collapsed and was washed away in the floods. It has been estimated that the closure of the A591 has cost the Lake District economy £1 million a day.

It is then of no surprise that its reopening – along with a new, parallel cycle path – is seen as a watershed moment in the region recovering from the devastating floods that shut scores of businesses, affected 5,000 households and might have caused £500 million worth of damage.

The A591 after work began to fix itCredit:
Getty

“It’s a big step forward and there will be celebrations,” said Ian Stephens, the managing director of Cumbria Tourism.

“It’s a vitally important link and will be a major boost in getting back to normality, but now 99 per cent of areas are operating as normal.”

The revived A591 is joined by the opening of a new 20-mile walking route, the Ullswater Way, a community-led project in the wake of the floods, in lending cause for optimism.

And the region is in a 'buoyant-but-cautious' mood about the coming summer months. Despite a trend of rising visitor numbers, the floods caused a drop of three per cent in self catering occupancy rates in January, and of 9 per cent for serviced accommodation in February. March saw an increase in both but this in part due to Easter falling in the month.

“We’re still tracking slightly below last year,” said Mr Stephens. “But last year was a record year so to be 10 per cent down on the best year ever in Cumbria is a good year. Let’s be realistic and we’ll be expecting a good year. It’s going to be hard work but we’re responding as well as we ever have done.

“There are still a number of bridges and road repairs, and repairs to walls and hedge rows but they’re all programmed in and there’s a lot of progress being made week on week.”

Looking towards the village of Glenridding in UllswaterCredit:
Alamy

The Lakes is by far Britain’s most visited – and largest – national park, welcoming some £16.4 million in 2014. Visitors come from around the world for its lakes, valleys, woodlands and fells .

Recent figures from accommodation letting website holidaycottages.co.uk found that this year’s first quarter brought with it a 222 per cent year on year spike in searches for the region, a figure that appears to be an anomaly. Data from hotel search website Trivago shows a slow recovery in interest from December: up 30 per cent to January, up again 41 per cent to February and up again 14 per cent to March.

“It’s been very tough but things are looking up,” said Richard Leafe, chief executive of the national park.

He points to a full calendar of events, including Lakes Ignite, taking place this month, which features parts of the landscape interacting with dramatic light installations, and to September when the Lakes hosts a stage of the Tour of Britain cycle race.

The cost of the damage in December was estimated at £500mCredit:
Getty

“People have worked very hard to get to the point where people can come and visit. From the perspective of the visitor you’d have to look for the damage.”

Mr Leafe estimates the damage to the infrastructure of the park, including two national park visitor centres, as 10 per cent. “We are very clear on what needs to happen to rectify that,” he added.

Peter Wells, operations director at the Castle Inn Hotel in Bassenthwaite, said footage used by the media in December was not representative of the entire region and resulted in putting off visitors.

“We had a great month in March and over Easter and with reports of a few weeks of warmer weather predicted, we anticipate that the summer bookings will really start to pick up,” he said.